Car-door fastening.



PATENTED MAR. 3, 1908.

B. B. BOWERS. GAR DOOR FASTENING. APPLICATION FILED mm: 4. 1906.

nu: NORRIS PETERS ca. wlsnmeron. u. c.

UNITED STATES BOSE B. BOWERS, OF MACON, GEORGIA.

CAR-DOOR FASTENING:

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 3, 1908.

Application filer" June 4: 1906. Serial No. 320,186.

To all to whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Bosn B. BOWERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Macon in the county of Bibb and State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Car-Door Fastenings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The latch forming the subject-matter of this invention is intended to provide a strong, practicable and simple fastening for sliding doors, more particularly for the sliding doors of freight and express cars; and also to afford a convenient means for locking or sealing the door when latched.

The improvement pertains to latches of that type wherein a hasp or latch-bolt carried by the sliding door is engaged by a vertically sliding gravity actuated keeper-bolt on the door-jamb when the door is shoved to or closed.

In the accompanying drawings, which form apart of this specification, Figure 1 is a front view of a latch embodying my invention, showing its parts or members re spectively attached to fragments of a cardoor and adjacent jamb of the door-opening, the door being represented partially open or separated from the jamb, so that the latch appears unfastened, with its members out of engagement. Fig. 2 is a similar view in which the car-door is represented closed or shoved against the jamb, so that the latch appears fastened. Fig. 3 is a side view of the member attached to the door-jamb, together with the sliding. kee 'er-bolt therein. Fig. 4 is a central horizonta section through the latch, when in fastened position, said section being taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective of the gravity actuated keeper-bolt. Fig. 6 is a detail view of the member attached to the door-jamb, and which provides a casing or guide-Way for the keeper-bolt.

1 indicates a fragment of the sliding cardoor, and 2 denotes the adjacent portion of the door-jamb against which the door abuts when shoved to or closed, the outer sides of the door and jamb being substantially flush, as usual in car-door constructions.

The latch comprises only three simple parts, which may be described as follows:

On the'front face of the door is attached by screws or bolts a metal base-plate 3, which is formed or constructed with a rigid latch-bolt 4, offset from the back of said plate as indicated in Fig. 4, and having a projecting sub-,

stantially spear-shaped pointed head 5, a slot or recess 6 being cut in the upper edge of the latch-bolt to form an engaging shoulder at the rear of the head. Similarly attached to the side of the door-jamb is a companion plate 7, having on its face two parallel outstanding vertical fianges 8 with an interme diate slide-way 9, constituting the casing for the sliding gravity-bolt 10, and having also a narrow transverse opening or slot 11 extending through said flanges 8 to receive the head 5 of the latch-bolt 4. The mouth12 of said opening 1 1, where the end of the latch-bolt or rigid hasp enters, is flaring or enlarged, being inwardly beveled all around, as shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 6, the object of which is of course to guide the latch-bolt into the slot when the car-door may have become more or less out of line, as is frequently the case in usage. The third member of the latch is the said gravity-actuated-keeper bolt 10, which is a short, straight bar slidably secured in its vertical guide-way 9 by means of two transverse pins 13 inserted through openings in the flanges 8 and through longitudinal slots 14 in the keeper-bolt, which is thus free to move up and down between the limits allowed by its pin and slot connections. Said keeper-bolt 10 has at its lower end an outwardly projecting finger-hold 15 for raising orlifting it. When released, the keeperbolt will automatically drop back to its lower position by gravity. In the rear edge of said keeper-bolt is a rectangular notch 16 whose upper end provides an overhanging ledge or shoulder 17 that occupies or projects across the upper half of the transverse slot 11 when said keeper-bolt is down; but when said keeper-bolt is raised its said notch 16 is substantially co-incident with the transverse slot 11. On closing or shoving to the sliding door, the head 5 of the rigid latchbolt 4 enters the widened mouth 12 of the slot 11 and its inclined edge rides under the beveled ledge 17 of the keeper-bolt 10 which is automatically raised thereby until the recess 6 in the upper edge of the latch-bolt comes in line with the vertical guide-slot 9, whereupon the keeper-bolt drops by gravity and its shoulder 17 enters and engages with the shoulder formed by said notch 6 of the latch-bolt, thus securely latching the door.

To unlatch, it is merely necessary to lift the kee er-bolt'by its finger-hold 15, thus freeing the atch-bolt and allowing the car-door to be slid open.

To receive either a lock or seal, the flanges 8 and intermediate keeper bolt 10 are provided with transverse holes 18, preferably in the lower parts of said flanges and keeperbolt, which holes register when the keeperbolt is down. Hence, after the door is latched, a padlock may be secured through said holes, or the latch can be sealed by means of a sealing-wire or metal strip inserted through said holes, so that it would be impossible to unlatch and open the door without first removing the lock or seal.

The advantage of this device over many similar contrivances hitherto devised lies in its simplicity and nice construction, and. its practicability as a strong and efficient fastener for sliding car-doors.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is In a sliding-door latch, the combination of a base-platehaving a pair of spaced outstanding flanges disposed to form a vertical guide-way, said flanges being provided with opposed.- transverse perforations together forming a keeper-opening intersecting said guideway, a gravity-actuated keeper-bolt slidably secured in the guide-way and formed to provide between its ends an engaging shoulder normally traversing the keeperopening, and a companion base-plate having a rigid latch-bolt provided with a pointed substantially spear-shaped head terminating at its rear in an engaging shoulder, said head being designed to pass through the keeper opening and having an inclined edge disposed to ride beneath the shoulder of and automatically lift the keeper-bolt, and the latter being adapted after passage of the head to descend automatically by gravity for effecting interlocking of said engaging shoulders.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

BOSE B. BOWERS. 

